Dr. Anat Matar angered scores of Israeli citizens and especially Tel Aviv University students when she eulogized Walid Daka, a convicted terrorist who kidnapped and murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984 who died earlier in the week from cancer.
incredulous that she is allowed to express her extremist opinions while receiving funding from the State of Israel, thousands of students demand her dismissal.
Despite freedom of speech being a sacred right, enshrined by the First Amendment, it is in no way limitless. One could argue and fail to convince us that inciting violence is protected by free speech. One can not freely exercise a right when it contradicts and even threatens another. As a Zionist Israeli, Anat Matar's praise for a terrorist undermines my right to safety and security, out of fear she will inspire attacks in her circles. To paraphrase the great Patrick Henry, give me safety or let her speak.
This is not the first time the well-known radical left activist has taken the spotlight with an infuriating social media post. Two years ago, Matar posted a picture of the university's library with Israeli flags around Israel's 74th Independence Day on Facebook with the caption, "This is how disease looks."
Through surprising political and social alliances, thousands of students demanded her dismissal but to no avail. Her Facebook account is considered private and Tel Aviv University disavowed her hateful rhetoric.
This time, many students and Israeli citizens hope her "heart-felt" eulogy, where she praises a murderous terrorist, will suffice in her dismissal or better yet, a criminal investigation.
The university has yet to respond to this controversy regarding its problematic lecturer. As time passes, this question of balance between freedom of speech and maintaining public order during wartime has become a political matter. Prominent members of Knesset such as Avigdor Liberman, Chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu party, have demanded the dismissal of Matar for her anti-Zionist and incendiary statements against Israel.
Hod Bass Photo: Courtesy Allegedly, Dr. Matar publishes these incendiary posts during times of heightened security tensions such as the joint IDF-Shin Bet-Israel Police operations in the West Bank of 2022 and the ongoing war in Gaza The current war that began with the Hamas massacre on October 7 and has so far claimed the lives of more than 600 IDF soldiers, more than 800 civilians while more than 130 hostages remain in Gaza, whether dead or alive.
Just as we see in the "woke" culture-controlled U.S. campuses, when someone derails public discourse with filth, we must denounce, desist and dismiss.